[RFC] Being You is Deculture

[classicdrogn]

<snip>*Stuff about games here* </snip>

Thanks.  Seeing as these are all probably Japanese language only (fuck you very much, Harmony Gold!) I'll have to see if anyone has done any English patches on these.  Given how big the Macross fandom is, I would be surprised if they didn't exist.

You'd need a physically hacked PS3 to use patches, though you're correct, they don't exist. MWulf made a really good translation guide for M30 that can be found via the GameFAQs page, where he still occasionally drops by and is a cool dude, or by googling "redwings translation guide" for the version on his web site. The ones of GF and his blog are not the most recent, though, that's on googledocs and linked from both.

I generally prefer the blog version because it's easier to have open in multiple tabs at once and navigate around than multiple copies of a combined word processor document and the only really important inaccuracies are easy enough to remember when I get to those missions. An actual translation of the game script has never happened because while the data can be ripped from the disk all the dialogue is mixed in with Lua scripting for it and all the other game events, and no one has gone to the effort of untangling that mess. Those who can speak Japanese have repeatedly assured me that the plot and dialogue you imagine to fit the actions Marvel Method comics style will be better than the very bland and generic JRPG fare that the game actually contains, however.

Oh, and see my immediately previous post for a couple of corrections, Mina's origin in particular. While it would be much more interesting if she was a Protoculture survivor and that's what stick in my memory, officially it is not the case. Either way she's got a bad case of protagonist amnesia (the role is shared relatively evenly between Leon, Mina, and Aisha, and they are not a love triangle for once - Leon and Aisha's relationship progresses mostly smoothly, with Mina in a younger sister type role to both) and pretty much only knows what the stasis tube naughty tentacled out of Leon (the mandatory PC) when he found her until various plot-relevant information is later pulled out of another old Protoculture computer system, and then it's not so much about her (aside from the line that I can't help but imagine is "Mama and papa were... Mama and papa were perverts! Ain't nobody wants to see that!" before she passes out) as about how the final boss was sealed in a superdimensional space dumpster for 500,000 years and why.

Still, I'd really love to have seen the look on Lord Roid's face in Delta when after explaining his stupid plan and giving the justification that the Windamians are the true inheritors of the Protoculture so they get to decide, Grown Up Mina turned out to be Walkure and Chaos's mysterious backer Lady M and said, "Yeah, no. I'm actually from the Protoculture, and it's not like that. Now sit down, shut up, and listen to my song!"

It's more likely I think that Lady M is actually Minmei, though there's no iron clad justification for that either, and I really lost enthusiasm in the second half of the series when the padding became obvious (it was originally intended for 13 episodes and got doubled after production had already started, and it really, really shows) so they may even have explained it and I just forgot.

If you've got a PS3, though, and the discretionary funds to buy a copy of M30, I'd say to go for it. It's not THAT hard to deal with it untranslated, and where else are you going to see a plaid Messiah or Durandal, let alone get to fly one? Sadly, none of my favorite mecha (VF-4, 9, 14, Varauta units, Macross II units) were included even if realistically the only one on that list that was even a possibility would be the VF-4 and the Hikaru who shows up is from too early to have been flying that bird, but the VF-19F has a nifty silver skin, the VF-27a and g have a good one each in blue and zebra stripes plus what's-her-name the Hunters Guild leader's ride that you get in NG+, and there's a few not-horrible or so-horrible-it's-cute versions of the VF-0, VF-1, and SV-51a.

The VF-25 family has a couple nice white/purple and white/blue skins on models I forget, and Ozma's YF-29 is decent in black and gold, along with being the hardest hitter in the game thanks to it's third-slot weapon being replaced by a quad damage buff. The YF-30 Chronos is okay in default Macross Protagonist White w/Red Trim but the reversed Milia red with white trim, or black with purple really pop; out of the game's selection I'd usually pick that, the blue VF-27a, or the silver VF-19F for aesthetics. Everything has a camoflage paint job too, and a Bad Guy Squadron navy-charcoal-and-gold as well that you can access in NG+. (Okay, character customs only have one skin, but I'm talking about the generics, which get five including Havemal colors.)

You still can't fly a Zentraedi Yard Dart either, though they do appear in the game as enemy units. That, the Vajra, the end boss, and the Dyaus (Vajra-like Protoculture security robots) are the only ones that are not playable IIRC, and the Yard Dart doesn't have the excuse of being a creature or creature-mimicking AI drone. No, wait, you can't fly the Macross Quarter either, unlike the PSP games. Of course, you could be a Vajra or Protodeviln or DYRL Boldolza in the PSP games as well, though giant units were restricted to outdoor maps.

Anyway, I've gotten distracted from talking about the translation guides. Dragon Knight Tonal checks on the game boards even more frequently than Wolfie and IIRC was the creator of the original PSP trilogy guides, which don't really cover the plot but the PSP games generally only have the objective of "kill all enemy craft" anyway, though there are exceptions. It does cover all the system stuff you need to know, at least, in a generally concise and easy to follow format. I don't have a Vita so I never looked too hard at Delta Scramble, but from things said in conversation either the PSP game guides are still close enough to valid or a new one was made by adapting them to it.

the top brass will demand that Garrick be remanded into their custody on charges of high treason.

Uh... how? He's served faithfully ever since joining the Spacy. I mean, they could get him for being an illegal immigrant easy, but treason? I suppose that's another point for why everyone else is, as you put it,

going "Oh HEEEEELLLLLLLL NAH!"

Now that I think about it, this would cause

The author is thinking about and refining ideas based on my comments! Yay!

I helped!

The SDF-1 goes rogue, though it's not like as if anyone particularly cares at this point since the general knowledge is that they were supposed to be dead anyhow.

Apparently the bit where the SDF-1 is cruising around the surface of Earth was supposed to be a lot longer in the initial conceptions of the show, basically doing a tour of all the world's most significant natural and architectural wonders and collecting recordings and souvenirs (to have after they get blown away in the bombardment) before being chased off by UN units. With how long your story is already committed to being, something like this would probably be best handled as a time skip montage of one to three paragraph scenes for a few representative samples before moving on to the next stage of the plot with something like "our world tour was brought to an end by..." etc. if you do it at all, but I think it would be cool, especially with the warning they got to bunker up NOW in this version.

I do hope you still use the Ottowa location though. With them steadfastly refusing to fully join the UN it would be a chance to see some SV-51 (or more likely at this piont the re-engined, space capable SV-52) units in action, maybe have Roy give a whistle and say something about how he's glad they're on his side this time, and that they hold up surprisingly well even compared to the VF-1 rather than its predecessor. Even better if he gets to give one a test flight, naturally just before an attack rolls in and he's stuck fighting in it like Hikaru in the VF-1D back at the beginning. The most immediate difference is that the SV-51 is a GIANT compared to any other unit in this time frame, head and shoulders taller than a VF-0 let alone a runty VF-1, and it has its secondary guns in the wing roots/chest rather than head turrets.

RE Kamjin and Azonia, the thing that amuses me most is that she looks basically exactly like Sylia Stingray (2030s, not remake) with a dye job. Giving them something more than that and a barely-hinted plot is one of the major points to look forward to here.

Katanagatari

Well, I'll probably at least remember the title after this, but it doesn't really sound like my cuppa from your description. Eh, we'll see when Garrick gets there. (The real world has all the darkness and pushy assholes I need, and then many, many more... and only in anime does biology and willpower work that way. Yes yes, I know, think of the catgirls. Still. "Be careful with all that edge, you might cut yourself!" )